News
OACHE
Peggy has been working with Brenda Haas from OACHE and Melissa Higgs-Horwell of SCOCA to provide folks from OACHE and other agenices with some quick technology training. We are calling the project "School 2.0" and we have set up a wiki for this collaboration effort at oache.pbwiki.com.


Workshops

Explore (and Share!) Your World!
Web Resources to Support Conference Presentation...

Download the software from Google - it's FREE!

Files for this workshop - right click on the link and choose "Save Target As..."

Workshop Evaluation

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Rationale

2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy

"Americans are far from alone in the world, but from the perspective of many young Americans, we might as well be. Most young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 demonstrate a limited understanding of the world, and they place insufficient importance on the basic geographic skills that might enhance their knowledge.

  • Young Americans answer about half (54 percent) of all the survey questions correctly. But by and large, majorities of young adults fail at a range of questions testing their basic geographic literacy.

  • Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.

  • 6 in 10 young Americans don't speak a foreign language fluently.

  • 20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It's the largest country in Africa.)

  • 48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu—by a landslide).

  • Half of young Americans can't find New York on a map."

Ohio Academic Content Standards (Ohio Social Studies Resource Center)

Third Grade

  • Use political maps, physical maps and aerial photographs to ask and answer questions about the local community.

  • Use a compass rose and cardinal directions to describe the relative location of places.

  • Read and interpret maps by using the map title, map key, direction indicator and symbols to answer questions about the local community.

  • Use a number/letter grid system to locate physical and human features on a map.

  • Identify the location of the equator, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, North Pole, South Pole, Prime Meridian, the tropics and the hemispheres on maps and globes.

Fourth Grade

  • Use a linear scale to measure the distance between places on a map.

  • Use cardinal and intermediate directions to describe the relative location of places.

  • Describe the location of Ohio relative to other states and countries.

  • Use maps to identify the location of major physical and human features of Ohio including: Lake Erie; Rivers; The Appalachian Plateau; Bordering states; The capital city; Other major cities

Fifth Grade

  • Use coordinates of latitude and longitude to determine the absolute location of points in North America.

  • Use maps to identify the location of: The three largest countries of North America; The 50 states of the United States; The Rocky and Appalachian Mountain systems; The Mississippi, Rio Grande and St. Lawrence Rivers; The Great Lakes

How-To's and other resources...

Picasa

  • Picasa Support Pages

  • Picasa Tutorial from Google Video
    If you have never used Picasa and need a program to manage all your digital photos, this tutorial is for you. From downloading and installing the software through file management and creating albums, this tutorial will get you started with Picasa (it is kind of grainy at full size, but still worth watching).

  • Picasa Image Editing Tutorial
    This tutorial will help you learn to make your photos POP with some simple adjustments!

Google Earth

Google Touring

  • Example: The River Nile Tour
    This Google Tour takes you from the source of the Nile River (the Blue Nile and the White Nile), through the major confluences and to the delta where it empties into the Mediterranean.

Integration - Lessons

General

Math

  • Extreme Triangles - Students select a ski slope at a North American Resort and try to find the slope with the longest, steepest run.

  • Road Sign Math

  • Where Are We From - Students collect and analyze data and learn about mean, median and mode

  • Maths in Las Vegas (or any city) - Identify geometric shapes, determine area of a parking lot, percentage of filled parking spaces, collect data from web cams (count cars, pedestrians, etc)

  • Real World Math - lessons for using GE in the math classroom

Language Arts

Science

Social Studies

KML/KMZ Files in Google Maps

If you have posted your KMZ file on the web so that it has a URL, you can type the URL in the search box at Google Maps and display your KMZ or KML file in a web browser! Here is an example:

TIP: In order to conserve resources on your computer, when you find a KML/KMZ file that you want to use in your classroom, download it to a folder you have created on your desktop or in your documents folder and don't save it to My Places inside Google Earth. If you keep the program streamlined (not so many placemarks to open at launch) you will have a smoother experience and you can always open the KML/KMZ files from that folder.

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